When, if ever, did you start liking olives?I don't remember that far back. I was eating black olives and cocktail olives before I ever hit grade school.

When, if ever, did you start liking beer?Um, I was two years old. I picked up my father's glass and drained it and asked for more. They didn't keep beer in the house again until I was a teenager, when I was allowed an occasional sip of Pabst Blue Ribbon.

When, if ever, did you start liking shellfish?When we lived in Hawaii was I was 5. Octopus too, particularily pickled.

What was the best thing your parent/s used to make?My mother's food was mostly straight out of "White Trash Cooking," but her creamed tuna in white wine sauce transcended! Also filet mignon cooked in Tokay wine.

What's your ideal salad?Fresh greens from the garden and everything but the kitchen sink...

What food do you always like to have in the fridge?Milk. I could live on milk, like St. Columba living on milk and nettle soup.

What food do you always like to have in the freezer?Some sort of source of protein. It can take many forms.

What food do you always like to have in the cupboard?Canned goods in infinite manifestations. I don't count staples like flour and sugar, as those are required in any house.

What spices can you not live without?Live. Without. Spices. Surely you jest. I must have as many as possible.

What sauces can you not live without?Hot sauce. I can get along without Tabasco or Crystal if I have other hot sauce, but I really want as many as possible

Where do you buy most of your food?I don't shop overwhelmingly at any one place. I get it all over.

How often do you go food shopping?Once a week, unless I am about to run out of milk.

What's the most you've spent on a single food item?I'm sure I have no idea. I've bought large quantities of things, like slabs of cow, etc. for living history, so I have no idea. Price to weight ratio, it was probably the $30 jar of saffron.

What's the most expensive piece of kitchen equipment you own?My wonderful stove!

What's the last piece of equipment you bought for your kitchen?A collection of vintage kitchen implements (cleaver, whisk, ladle, etc.), but it really wasn't for the kitchen. It was for my living-history kitchen box.

What piece of kitchen equipment could you not live without?My antique cast-iron frying pan.

How many times a week/month do you cook from raw ingredients?Every day.

What's the last thing you cooked from raw ingredients?Eggplant, in a casserole at lunch today, but it didn't finish cooking before I had to go back to work, so we'll have it tonight.

What's your favorite thing to make for yourself?Oriental-style soup.

What meats have you eaten besides cow, pig, chicken and turkey?Too numerous to list. And I'd probably forget something. But the most exotic was roasted beaver tail.

What's the last time you ate something that had fallen on the floor?Last night, but I rinsed it off first.

What's the last time you ate something you'd picked in the wild?Does purslane that volunteered in the garden count? A couple weeks ago.

Place the following cuisines in order of preference (greatest to least):Thai, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Indian, French (but there's nothing Vietnamese, or Korean, or Greek, or even Mexican, here!)

Place the following boozes in order of preference (greatest to least):There is nothing but Unblended Whiskey, Good Gin, and Cognac.

Bread and spread:Multigrain, preferably boutique-bakery, with Irish or Normandy butter

What's your fast food restaurant of choice, and what do you usually order?Taco Bell, and the 7-layer burrito.

What are three of the best dining-out experiences you've had?Mansion de Joel Robuchon, Las Vegas. Atlier de Joel Robuchon, Las Vegas. The Ploughman, Kinsale Ireland.

What's your choice of tipple at the end of a long day?Good red wine, followed by single-malt Scotch, or good gin, see above.

Favorite cookbook/s?The Wise Cooking Encyclopedia, followed by a 1930's edition of the Boston Cooking School Cookbook.